Nature, in all her glory, has devised protections to sway the survival of the fittest. Like a perfect, protective shell shielding an unborn chick, nature is well-made.

However, there’s an inconsistency in nature that took me a while to finally figure out: bees loving red bee balm.

Intuitively I know in nature bees avoid red plants. It’s nature’s way to sway the survival of the hummingbird, protecting them from the bees. Hummingbirds are attracted to red; bees are not. This is why you don’t see bees hanging around a hummingbird feeder. Bees cannot see the color red. Instead, red, to a bee, appears to be green, leaving most the red flowers for the hummingbirds, except bee balm, Monarda didyma.

I have several varieties of bee balm in my wildlife habitat that are red, and the bees are around them as soon as the sun is up, and only rest when the sun sets. So how is that a bee sees my red Bee Balm?

In my quirky nature, where inconsistencies drive me mad, I had to know how bees were attracted to Bee Balm? If they can’t see the color red, how do they know to go there?

The answer was simple: bee balm has ultraviolet coloring mixed in which makes the flowers appear blue to bees.

So there was no inconsistency in nature after all. Nature had this covered, with me scratching my head until I finally did a little research.

What people said from the Northwest Flower & Garden Show:
"Helen Yoest presentation was very very intertesting and well organized.Her time went so fast I wanted to hear more. A excellent speaker. I hope I have another opportunity to hear her."
Kathy Juracek from Browns Point, Wa

I hope you will consider buying my book Gardening with Confidence--50 Ways to add style for personal creativity.

Gardening with Confidence® is a gardening book for beginners as well as seasoned gardeners.

"Helen helps readers explore, discover and
express what their own style actually is. She helps us through this voyage of self-expression laid out not as a designer would approach the subject matter – but as an enlightened guide who over the years has worked through the obstacles. It’s obvious that the author has practiced what works and what doesn’t."